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VALENTINE’S DAY NAILS

Valentine’s Day is less than two weeks away and it’s easy to get carried away and buy into the chocolate-y festive spirit. I have to admit that much of the hype around Valentine’s Day is kind of overlooked this year since Phil and I have to save for the wedding. Luckily, there are so many ways we can celebrate and decorate without breaking the bank!

So I haven’t had much time to do anything with my nails in a long time, but it kills me because that’s all I did in my free time back in college. Painting my nails became a regular form of procrastination! I might be rusty, but I thought I’d brush up a little. Today I’m sharing a few of my favorite Valentine’s Day designs that don’t take much effort or practice.

Sweet Hearts

To achieve these adorable little hearts nails I used a piece of tape and my little dotting tool. Like the one here. So to start off, paint your nails with two coats of gold. Leave them to dry completely then move onto taping your nail about 1/4 of the way down. You’ll want to make sure they are totally dry or else this step will rip off your entire base coat!

Then you will paint the contrasting color below the tape. I decided to only do two fingers because, well…I wanted to eat my lunch! Ain’t nobody got time to watch paint dry! Thankfully, that coat of contrasting color doesn’t need long to sit and dry. I quickly nabbed my dotting tool and created a heart. Check out this to find out how I create the easiest heart design! Last but not least, don’t forget to apply a topcoat over the top of your awesome design and wait to dry.

Swipes and Sweaters

This was by far the easiest of all my nail designs, and my favorite! Begin by painting your nails with two quick coats of a light pink. Let them dry completely before moving onto the next step. The next coat will be with a darker shade, I chose this glittery chrome colored pink.

To create the brush strokes on your nails, you’ll need to grab a piece of paper to get the nail polish applicator a little dry. By brushing the applicator back and forth on the scrap paper it’ll begin to have more defined strokes and spaces. Once you get used to the consistency of your paint you can decide when to start adding those strokes to your nails!

It took me a few times to get this right, but the effect is really cool and eye catching! Add a top coat and you’ll be all set.

Sophisticated Layers

For this one I used a pearlescent base coat that also counted as one of my colors. I have really thin nails so no matter what, I always apply at least two layers of any polish when it’s the base coat! The most important part to remember about this design is patience! Each layer has the potential to be ruined if it’s not dried completely!

To start out, I used my tape again to section off a diagonal portion of my nail. Then painted a light pink across the way. Pro tip – remove the tape while the polish is wet so it doesn’t get tacky and make jagged lines. Let that color dry and get ready for the darker shade by taping the opposite side to overlap. From here you know what to do, paint that overlying section with a thick coat to avoid seeing any bumps or underlying colors. Finally, finish of this design with a top coat!

Before Valentine’s Day comes around, I’ll likely be sporting one of these looks again. I’m leaning mostly towards the striped dry brush one! Love to know the little ways that y’all get into the festive spirit.

Hope you all have awesome plans whether it be Valentine’s Day, GTD (Galentines Day), or both!